Breaking Point
by Katastropheeeee
Summary: Sacrifice. If that was the only way to get her revenge, she would do it. But, this contraption could cost her a great deal. Her blood and possibly her life.  Sakura.   Just a short one. No, I do not know where this will lead. That just makes it more fun.
1. A Deadly Game

Disclaimer: All the materials I used belong to their rightful owners. I take no profit from it. It is purely FanFiction, and is in no way associated with the anime.

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Breaking Point

Sakura placed her hand in the cuff, closing it around her thin wrist. It snapped shut, and a gasp escaped her lips. The spikes on the inside of the cuff had pierced her soft alabaster skin, slivers of blood dripping down her fingertips.

"Sakura! This is madness. Is your life really worth his?"

Sai's words echoed throughout the chamber. This was a rare display of emotion from her teammate. However she disregarded it completely. There was no chance for her to back out now.

Wincing as she grabbed the next cuff, her fingers slippery with her own blood, she fastened that around her other wrist. Her breath caught in her throat as it clicked in place.

"Breathe…" she murmured softly to herself. To win this challenge, she had to stay calm. The 'game' was dangerous. The traps had overcome Itachi Uchiha, and his power exceeded her own. Now she was playing to save his life, but risking her own. Panic would cost her more than just the game, but her life, as well as the former Akatsuki members. If she lost, it was a death sentence for the S-Rank missing-nin.

Sakura never would have thought to find herself in such a predicament. The man she had been hunting mercilessly for the past month, the cause of her pain and the target of her hatred, the man she had wish death upon with every fibre of her being was now utterly dependant on her – to live.

Time was running out.

As the seconds passed, piling into minutes, the Uchiha inched closer to death.

Blood was trickling out of his wounds; the blood thinning agents coating the spikes and bolts penetrating his skin stopped his body from healing itself and halting the flow.

The more blood he lost, the less time Sakura had.

She needed to release him from the trap – and heal him.

However, the only way that the trap could be reversed, was to substitute him with someone else – and restore the balance. She needed to go through what he had gone through, and lose the same amount of blood that he had lost, restoring the balance of the chamber. But the was a risk of the Uchiha dying at any minute, and if he was to die, Sakura would have to die too – to maintain the balance.

Once she entered the contraption, she could not leave.

It would not released until the price had been paid.

This meant that Sai could not take her place halfway through, nor could she take a break to heal herself.

Now that she had started, she could not turn back.

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N.B. Just something that had been floating around in my head. No real idea what is going to happen next - I was just looking up medieval torture instruments [for school], and this sprung to life.


	2. Press 'Start'

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor the characters in Naruto. I just manipulate them like my own personal voodoo dolls.

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It was time.

If she procrastinated any longer, she may have started listening to Sai, and she couldn't let that happen.

She was determined. This was something that she had to do alone.

The kunoichi took a big breath, ignoring the throbbing in her wrists. She had no choice. To complete her revenge, she needed the Uchiha alive. She was willing to pay any price to get the retribution she craved from the depths of her soul.

Taking a step forward, she inched closer to the indent in the floor. The chains clinked as she moved her arms, each movement spiking a new wave of pain to shoot up her arm.

This contraption would hurt.

As soon as her feet entered it, they would be locked in place by two metal spiked bars penetrating her flesh. Her blood would then begin to flow down a path cut into the floor – the floor that was conveniently sloped towards a silver basin.

Sakura hadn't really taken the layout of the room, but now, she noted that it had been set up for this event. She paused, studying the room that could possibly be the place in which she drew her final breath.

Her mind was desperately searching for subjects to distract her from the pain that was lancing up her arms.

The room had one door that locked from the outside. The door was made from a hard wood, and did not have a lock. Instead, the room was locked with a chakra seal on the outside - which was inaccessible from the inside.

It also resealed once the door closed.

The floor was slanted at a slight downward angle, which did not become immediately apparent as one walked in. It was subtle, but after spending a prolonged period of time in the room, it became obvious from the slight pressure the angle had on the knees and feet.

On either side of the room, there was a large iron loop set into the wall, next to which a chain hung. The chain was about two meters long, and at each end, there was a shackle. The shackles themselves looked like inverse spiked dog collars, the spikes on the inside of the ring instead of the outside.

This was the first part of the incomprehensible torture that was to take place in this room.

Sakura knew that the shackles, and the spikes on the shackles were covered in a strong solution of blood thinning agents; the blood thinning agents a method of prolonging the torture and suffering the victim went through.

Those shackles were enclosed around her thin wrists, but it was only the first step.

Next, was the indent in the floor that would secure her in place.

Following that...

...she didn't want to think about it.

But, everything that awaited her would not kill her immediately - and each weapon was smeared with blood thinning agents, making it much easier for them to bleed out.

In short, it would take much longer for them to die this way.

Enough thinking.

Gingerly, she lowered her foot towards the indent in the floor.

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(:

Chapter Two.

I got so many nice reviews that I just HAD to keep writing. Thanks!

...oh, and in regards to why Itachi is there - that's a secret I have to keep (for now at least) :P

-Kiki


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